A drug used to prevent transplanted organ rejection might REVERSE a form of mental retardation

[thewayne]

This has been tested in mice, there's no telling when this might make it to people trials.

I find it interesting when one drug finds application against a different disease. A friend of mine who is going to die of ALS (Lou Gherrig's Disease) was in a drug trial where they tested a drug previously used to treat Alzheimers patients and it showed some good results against ALS. The problem is that drug insurance won't pay for it because it is labeled for use if you have Alzheimers.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=existing-drug-reverses-a&sc=rss

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/27/1210202

Comments

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

This is a good example of the exact use of the word serendipity— where you are looking for one thing (a treatment for organ rejection) and stumble across another (a treatment for a type of mental retardation.)

So... how serendipitous.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

A most excellent word, serendipity. And a most excellent application of said word. Bodacious, even!